Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Wednesday: Everybody In The Pool!

"A candidate needs three things -- name recognition, organization and money. Cyril Wecht starts already with a great deal of name recognition," said Allegheny County Democratic Party Chairman Jim Burn. "In a field with six people, that's could mean a lot." (Trib, Carl Prine)

Burn's GOP counterpart Jim Roddey seems to be coyly suggesting that Wecht could be in this to spoil things for Dan Onorato. That seems like a lot of trouble -- I'm a little closer to where Burn is on this. Not only does Wecht have name recognition and a lot of well-placed friends, but charisma and unconventionality go a long way in a crowded field, especially when there's a change movement afoot. I don't any reason why this couldn't happen.

I do wonder now whether the suddenly resurrected notion that it was D.A. Zappala who initiated and instigated the case against him was intended a pointed political warning shot.

After a federal grand jury indicted Wecht in January 2006 for alleged abuse of his political office, Roddey began to believe that the case was politically motivated. (ibid)

Okay, but let's all be clear. What was supposedly going on?

The federal government's case against Dr. Cyril H. Wecht began with the politically driven agenda of the Allegheny County district attorney and was built using illegally obtained evidence, defense attorneys said today. [snip]

During a court hearing this morning and in documents filed today, Wecht's lawyers attack search warrants used to gather evidence as well as the credibility of the lead FBI agent in the case and District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. [snip]

Defense lawyers claim Zappala's request for an investigation was designed to stop a public debate over the district attorney's "failure to prosecute select police officers in the face of Dr. Wecht's opinion that the citizen deaths at their hands were homicides." (Trib, April 7, 2006)

Wait, I thought it was supposed to be ... oh, never mind. It doesn't matter anymore. Water under the bridge!

##

Considering the way things have been trending for 50 years, color me just a bit leery of any tentative contract with a public sector union which union leaders feel comfortable in the first public go-round describing as "good". (P-G, Rich Lord)

Color me a bit impressed that Mayor Ravenstahl is daring to take a hard line with workers in other areas. (P-G, Lord and Ove)

Color me thrilled by Wayne Fontana. Call your state senator and get them on board, too. (P-G, Rich Lord)

Bruce Kraus is taking a second swipe at this Carson Street thing (Trib, Adam Brandolph). Color Illyrias as less than enthusiastic (PGH is a City).

It's only a matter of time before the Braddockians find a way to fix UPMC's wagon. They'll never stop. I have faith. (Trib, Walter F. Roche, Jr.)

So Natalia Rudiak will get to enter the hermetically-sealed, barometric-pressure controlled soundproof chamber to evaluate the Parking Authority garage and meter lease proposal. And just generally rifle through Parking Authority file cabinets. This ought to be illuminating one way or the other. (Slag Heap)

Carpet - I do honestly hope we're not structurally disqualified from ever fielding a viable candidate. My instinct is to say it's defitinitely possible -- but it'd take a real five-star political animal. I don't think the data is in yet to say if we have one.

Another thing that occurred to me -- did you notce how Jim Roddey was like, "This could open the door for a Tom Knox! Tom Knox! Tom Knox!" I wonder if that can be taken as an acknowledgement that Joe Hoeffel, in a general election, would rack up all those Philly suburb votes that seem to be out there.

Apply rules straight across the board and there would no longer be an issue. If police,fire, ems,and Bureau of Bldg Inspection (all public safety entities) had to take the same drug & alcohol tests? Now that would truly be fair. Seems reasonable.

The police just finished up with a police contract, does that contract include drug testing? What? The police don't have these issues you say? No police officer ever raided the evidence room? Me thinks there is a stench here, coming from the office of public safety.

Maybe you can't control the cavalry when you come from a one horse town.

I don't know that you can blame the public safety unions. They did not make the decision to ignore the growing pension deficit year after year. That decision was made by our elected leaders, who despite a shrinking tax base, decided to ignore the issue.

Then along came Murphy with his "friends and advisors." They came up with a scheme to double down and borrow more - hoping to put a dent in the deficit. This failed, not because of the city workers or public safety unions, but because of poor execution of a flawed strategy developed by Murphy's "friends and advisors." These guys made their money and the city came out on the losing end.

Now our Mayor is working with his own group of "friends and advisors". Their scheme, developed by Chicago politicians, involves leasing our parking assets for a fraction of what they are worth to an "independent third party."

Once again, the mayor's "friends and advisors" will be rewarded with short term gains. The city workers, on the other hand, will be left pointing fingers at each other when the city loses another key asset and the scheme fails miserably.

When a guy like Luke Ravenstahl claims to have a quick fix solution to a complex financial problem you should think long and hard about it before pulling the trigger. Who does a deal like this really benefit?

If still sounds like our best shot then take some time and consider how well it worked out in Chicago.

right on, Moon Shadow! nothing like a trip down Memory Lane!Perhaps us voters can insist, at the very least, for the Chi. Reader to be delivered to Grant STreet and environs.

Monk, rendering his own Thick Description of Our Fair City's Pension Issue, has some pretty interesting front-row history. @monk: like that pervasive extra one sees in every QuinnMartin/Aaron Spelling/Dick Wolf production I know I'll see you around. Maybe driving a Bug Van, but you'll show. Methinks you cannot help yourself. Rock On, Dude!

@Natalia: Make sure to pull the filing drawer ALL the way out (be mindful of the weight of the extended drawer you hold) and double check BEHIND the actual drawer for documents that just might've been stuffed in on top and subsequently fallen into the cabinet carcass / void.

Also, Bruce Kraus? I bought an overpriced house in the South Side primarily because I like all the restaurants I can walk to. And since I've moved there, at least three new ones have opened that I really enjoy. And you want to take that away from me? Next time I see you on the sidewalk photographing the businesses you think are violating your desires, I'll probably push you in a puddle. Possibly one that's been pissed in.

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